Cyclists have a lot riding on L.A. driver's trial

The two were traveling about 30 mph -- the speed limit on the road -- when they heard a car honking behind them. Behind the wheel of a red Infiniti was Thompson, a pudgy, veteran emergency room physician who had lived on the road since 1987. Wearing blue scrubs, Thompson was heading to work at Beverly Hospital in Montebello.

The cyclists testified that they began maneuvering to ride single file. The Infiniti sped past within a foot of Peterson's handlebars and the driver shouted to them to ride single file. Peterson swore at him. "He was acting like a bully," Peterson told jurors.

What happened next remains in dispute.

Peterson and Stoehr say the Infiniti pulled in front of them and braked hard. Thompson, who contends that the cyclists never moved into single file, said he felt uncomfortable behind them so he drove wide around the riders and pulled to the curb at what he thought was a safe distance. He denied slamming on his brakes.

What is beyond dispute is that Peterson's bicycle hit the car's bumper, flinging him through the rear window.

"It felt like a wall," Peterson said. His two front teeth were broken. The impact and glass shards nearly tore his nose from his face, requiring reconstructive surgery. Blood spattered the sedan's trunk. Stoehr landed in front of the car and suffered a separated shoulder.

Thompson called 911. A recording of the call picked up Thompson telling one of the cyclists: "Get your bike out of the road, why don't you?"

The doctor told the 911 operator about the profanity the cyclists yelled at him. "I slammed on my brakes. They went into me."

The operator asked if the injuries were serious.

"Not really, but they'll tell you that," Thompson replied.

When LAPD Officer Robert Rodriguez arrived, Thompson told him that he came across three cyclists -- not two -- riding alongside one another and shouted at them to ride single file. The cyclists flipped him off and yelled back, the doctor said.

"I passed them up and stopped in front of them to teach them a lesson," Thompson said, according to Rodriguez. "I'm tired of them. I've lived here for years. and they always ride like this."

On the stand, Thompson denied making the incriminating remarks.

But Rodriguez insisted that he knew what he had heard.

"The statement was so shocking . . . that it just burned into my brain," he testified.

Thompson's attorney implied that the cyclists were partly to blame for the crash. Citing reports from expert witnesses, he said the riders had enough room to avoid the car.

Prosecutors say the collision was the latest in a series of aggressive confrontations Thompson has had with cyclists on the same road.

Among them was a strikingly similar episode four months earlier in which two other cyclists accused Thompson of trying to run them off the road and slamming on his brakes in front of them.

"He drove like a raging maniac," Deputy Dist. Atty. Mary Stone told jurors.

Thompson disputed the account, saying he and a passenger felt threatened. He told jurors that he honked and told the riders to ride single file but that one "shot me the shaft," so he stopped to get their names. When one cyclist hit his car, he drove away.

"I was frightened," he said. "They were acting crazy."

Thompson testified that he and neighbors agreed they needed to identify misbehaving cyclists. With a photograph of the offenders, the homeowners' association could contact their cycling club to complain.

When he encountered the cyclists on the July 4 ride, Thompson said, he decided to stop and take a photo of them.

"I have spent my whole life trying to take care of people," Thompson told jurors, "not hurt them."

jack.leonard@latimes.com